Prof. Dr. Sebastian Weydner-Volkmann and the research team at the Junior Professorship for Ethics of Digital Methods and Technologies (EDMT) investigate forms of rational justifications for putting (or refusing to put) trust in digital technologies. Our research can be characterized as a form of applied ethics and an ethical contribution to technology assessment.
Our methodology
Ethical contributions to technology assessment often focus on questions of *de facto* public acceptance on the one side and acceptability from an expert point of view on the other. We posit that the idea of rationally justifying societal trust or distrust in digital technologies points toward the issue of formulating non-technical criteria for “trustworthiness” so as to justify trust or mistrust also from a layperson’s perspective. Criteria for non-expert judgement of trustworthiness as well as facilitating the mediation of trust between experts and non-experts can then offer new perspectives in value sensitive technology design.
Basic research lines
1. How can the concept of trustworthiness be applied in the evaluation of digital technologies
2. How can the concept of trustworthiness be productively used in the design of socio-technical systems
3. How can trust and distrust in technology be rationally justified from the perspectives of laypersons
Specific application contexts
1. Trust and distrust in the context of digital surveillance
2. Disruption of trustworthiness due to the introduction of AI methods
3. Trustworthy AI applications for strengthening student autonomy in higher education
Our projects
1. Trustworthy video surveillance: the digital cloak of invisibility
2. Trust as an evaluative concept in technology assessment
3. Trustworthy AI for learning analytics in higher education